Jacqui Smith never recovered from her brush with the law. She reneged on a negotiated pay deal, bringing 22,000 off-duty officers on to the streets in 2008 to march in protest.
David Blunkett backed down on plans to revamp overtime and reorganise the rank structure when 10,000 police decided to lobby their MPs on the same day in 2002.
But Kenneth Clarke suffered more than other home secretaries after he commissioned the Sheehy Report, which proposed attempted wide-ranging reform in 1993.
The Police Federation drew 30,000 angry officers to a rally at Wembley and Michael Howard, who succeeded Mr Clarke at the Home Office, shelved the reforms. That defeat made a lasting impression on one of Mr Howard’s special advisers, a young David Cameron.
In January 2006, as a new Conservative Party leader, Mr Cameron made it clear that overhauling the police was unfinished business.
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“It’s time for a fundamental shake-up of policing in this country,” he said. “You can’t be tough on crime unless you’re tough on police reform.
“First, police officers must be made more accountable to local communities. Second, police pay and conditions must be modernised to ensure much better performance.”
These twin priorities are now firmly on the political agenda. Legislation to elect police commissioners, to hold the police to account, is before Parliament. Part one of the Winsor review is directed towards pay. Part two is intended to create a more efficient, professional and high-skilled police service.
Mr Cameron’s reforming zeal is fuelled by key figures such as Lord Wasserman and Steve Hilton. Nick Herbert, the Policing Minister, had the title “Shadow Minister for Police Reform” in opposition and the Policy Exchange think-tank wields significant influence.
If the Police Federation thinks that it is taking on just another home secretary it should think again. As Mr Cameron explained in that speech in 2006, this is a personal mission: “The Conservative Party I lead will not flinch from saying what needs to be said, and doing what needs to be done.”